


Nighttime

by Valjinic



Category: Plague Tale: Innocence (Video Game)
Genre: Adventure, Canon Rewrite, Gen, Hinted feelings, Lock Picking, Maybe an AU, More obvious than hinted, More obvious than planned, No Romance, Siblings, Siblings Talking, Typical younger sibling, hinted Melicia, kind of adventure, maybe canon compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-30
Updated: 2019-07-30
Packaged: 2020-07-27 11:27:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20045227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Valjinic/pseuds/Valjinic
Summary: Right before chapter 13. Amicia and Lucas have returned and almost everyone is asleep. But what if Hugo hadn't run away that night, or at least was stopped at this try?Mélie catches the younger De Rune as he's staring at his and Amicia's pendants, of course noticing that something is bothering him. And so the two take a walk around the château, talking about their siblings as the thief tries to find out what is on his mind. Will this be the beginning of an AU in which he can be stopped from running away? Or will it only postpone what has to come to the next night, or worse, the next day even when the group is busy?





	Nighttime

**Author's Note:**

  * For [impudent_strumpet](https://archiveofourown.org/users/impudent_strumpet/gifts).

> An idea I had since I came across the scene where he showed his admiration for the thief's skills. We all know that Mélie is rather weirded out by Hugo, especially at the end, and that they didn't have any conversation alone. But I still wanted to create a scene, a moment, where his admiration for the older girl can build up and simply where another sibling can exchange their experience with one of the twins, not just Amicia. And of course, I couldn't help it, I HAD to at least hint my favorite couple.
> 
> And yes, this story here is a little gift to a very talented user on here. I don't only want to thank you for always reading and commenting on my stories (Which always makes me smile :D) but also for the great amount of awesome work you gift to this fandom! And one chapter in "The grasp of hope" really is not enough of a thank you.
> 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Disclaimer: The characters are not mine but Asobo studios property. But I’m always happy to borrow these wonderful characters~ Especially Mélie hehe

**Nighttime**

The château was bathed in silence on this rather cold night. Only the far away squeaking of the dangerous rats and snoring from the two boys on their mats in the main room interrupted that peaceful silence. As Mélie walked past them, she could only shake her head and mutter a quiet “Boys...” before continuing her round. The young thief was on watching duty tonight, or rather walking around the château to check if everything is alright and where the damned rats are; if they managed or could manage to find a loop hole or if they’re where they’re supposed to be.

Everything was at its place. That was what Mélie thought until she passed the mats of the De Rune siblings. Amicia was sleeping quietly and with a small smile on her face, the sight of it making Mélie almost immediately get a soft smile on her face as well. Her soft smile disappeared again though when she turned her head to Hugo, but instead of him she found an empty space next to Amicia.

“Odd… He never does that-” The orange haired girl raised her eyebrow as she looked around the large room, in the end squeezing her eyes together as she concentrated on her hearing to see if the little boy was still near. It was almost impossible to hear anything else, especially something quiet, besides the snoring; and so she was about to mentally curse the older teenage boys when she heard a soft waddling coming from almost above her, the pace and heaviness of the steps telling her that it had to be Hugo unless they had another child here. And so she got a soft grin and let out a whispered “Found you” as she slowly walked up the stairs, careful to not make a noise like the younger De Rune sibling did.

Once she walked up the stairs and stopped at the door frame, she saw Hugo staring at the tree where he and his sister put their pendants around one of its branches. Mélie had no idea why he’d want to look at the necklaces at this time, and so she watched him with a tilted head for a few seconds, trying to guess what he had in mind. The guesses were without a success and so she leaned against the old stone wall as she let out a barking: “What are you doing there? Little kids aren’t supposed to be up this late.”

Hugo gasped as he jumped and quickly turned around to her, visibly surprised at being caught here and needing a few seconds until he looked down and mumbled: “Can’t sleep...”

The female twin watched his reaction closely, raising her eyebrow once more in the process. She surely wasn’t dumb; especially in reading other people’s expressions and gestures. The young thief had by far a bigger talent for that than most of the people, but it was something that she trained herself at to survive. And so she noticed that something was on the little boy’s mind that he didn’t want to tell her.

“Can’t sleep, huh?” The older girl watched him as she nodded slowly, his face still facing the ground beneath them, but his head quickly shot up at her next words: “Wanna walk a bit with me then? You can’t walk around here on your own when it’s this late, too dangerous with the rats in case some find a way in from another direction.”

As Hugo only stared at her in disbelieve without saying anything, she rolled her eyes and let out a soft chuckle: “I don’t bite, I swear. So c’mon.”

The little boy nodded slowly, still a bit surprised by that offer, or rather unsure about it. Before, Mélie usually was around whenever his sister was there, and so this was the first time he was alone with the thief. Even though he knew that he could trust her since Amicia trusted her almost blindly, he still felt slightly unsure without her. But his curiosity won over his hesitation and so he walked over to her with a tilted head and let her lead the way.

* * *

Mélie made sure to walk slowly so that he could walk right beside her as she made her way to the parapet way on the other side of the main room. She didn’t want to risk waking the others up and therefore losing the chance to see what was on the little boy’s heart, so she carefully looked around to see any possible short cut.

And she was lucky this time; she spotted a door hidden by a bunch of plants and took a few steps towards it. Hugo watched her the entire time with a tilted head, wondering why she was so fascinated. He did not know though that she didn’t admire the door, but instead went through the mental structural plan she has made of the château on their first day here, of course for better orientation in case she’d face a situation where she’d have to be quick.

“Should work…” Was what the thief mumbled to herself as she came to the conclusion of this locked door leading to the possible short cut she needed.

“Huh…? What would work?” At those words she turned her head to see a very confused yet fascinated Hugo with a tilted head. It made her chuckle once more before she showed him a slight grin: “Hey Hugo, wanna see something cool?”

If one would have to describe Mélie as a sibling, it would probably the type who instigates the other into doing something usually senseless. And even though she and Hugo were not related nor did she feel in any way close to the younger De Rune sibling, the thief still unintentionally got into her rather troublesome sibling mode and enjoyed it, especially as she still knew how adventurous and easily thrilled children are at his age.

And so it was no surprise that Hugo nodded quickly and would have let out a cheered “Yes yes yes!” if the thief hadn’t silenced him in the last second.

“Sorry...” He whispered softly as he gave Mélie an apologetic look, but she simply shook her head and whispered “It’s alright, now come here and look” back as she waved him over to her side.

Once the little boy was there, Mélie grinned a bit more and picked the lock in under three seconds, which made the young boy grin like a Cheshire cat as he looked at her with bright eyes and whispered a “That was awesome…! I wanna do it too…!!”

“Believe me you don’t,” The twin let out a quiet laugh as she carefully pushed the door open, waving at the young boy once she was inside to make him follow her, “It’s to survive, no need to know it for fun.”

“Aww...” Hugo let out a sigh but nodded nonetheless as he quickly followed the older girl, who already was inspecting the way ahead of them as she continued speaking: “Besides- don’t think Amicia would be too happy if you’d show up with lock picking skills.”

The quiet huff he let out at the mentioning of his sister was almost overheard by the orange haired girl, but she still managed to grasp it; and it made her nod as she thought: _ ‘Ah. Sibling problems.’ _

She decided to drop that subject until later and concentrate on the little adventure again, so the thief turned her head to the little boy as she pointed to the old, slightly damaged, stairs ahead of them: “Anyway, let’s continue now. I’ll go first and check the condition. If it’s safe then I’ll wave ya over, ‘kay?”

“Mhm!” Hugo nodded quickly and sat down on the floor as he watched the older girl carefully walking up and tapping on some spots before continuing her way. After a bit of time has passed, she finally gave the awaited signal and the little boy hurried over to the thief who was waiting halfway on the stairs.

As they walked together, Hugo noticed how his soft waddling was heard, no matter how careful he tried to walk, while Mélie’s steps were absolutely silent even though she did not much, at least in his eyes, to purposely sneak. Once they’ve reached the top, Hugo turned to the thief with a bright smile and amazed voice: “How did you do that??”

“Did what?” Mélie glanced at him with a tilted head before she slowly walked along the damaged and overgrown covered parapet walk. Hugo, who quickly followed her, didn’t lose his bright smile as he exclaimed: “The sneaking! You walked without a sound, like a ghost! And it looked so easy!”

“Shhh,” As he spoke, the orange haired thief warned him to tone his voice down to not be heard by anyone else before she answered him: “It’s called training. Ya learn how to adapt your way of walking to your surroundings when you’re living on the run, like me and Arthur.”

“Adapting your walking…?” The little boy tilted his head while she nodded: “Yah, I walk differently on stone than on dirt, ‘cos steps on stone sound differently… and can be avoided in a different way.”

Mélie didn’t think that Hugo would have any use for that information in the future, or even in the next days as he would probably forget it until then, nor did she think that he fully grasped the meaning of that technique as it was quite difficult to adapt your steps so naturally onto the different kinds of grounds, but she still told him nevertheless; it can’t hurt to have as much information as possible even if it’s most likely useless in his case.

And while Hugo was simply nodding, she saw that she was right about her assumption and got a proud grin as she jumped the small distance down onto the parapet walk where she has told Amicia her plan of freeing her brother.

* * *

But she didn’t forget to help Hugo of course, and once he was on the stone ground with her, she walked over to the strong remains of the stone wall to take a look at the rats in their pits.

“Oh? Why are we here?” Hugo looked around for a few moments before he remembered this place and turned his head to the thief.

“Hm, ‘cos I like this place,” Was what Mélie said, her eyes locked onto the mass of rats before she turned around to him, “And ‘cos I’m not blind. Something is bothering you, right? Don’t have to tell me, but sometimes a walk helps to calm down about it. At least that helped me, reduced the fights I had with Arthur about stupid shit down to a minimum.”

She showed the little De Rune a proud grin at her last sentence, not even actively noticing how she naturally swore in front of the five year old. The little boy didn’t seem to be bothered by that slip, as he only let out a soft giggle: “Did you and your brother fight a lot?”

“Oh we did,” The thief nodded and laughed softly as she remembered some very senseless arguments, “I totally understand that he complains about me being too hot headed. And to be fair, I did start most of the fights we had, simply because. Not even for a good reason, just to let my frustration out. Wasn’t the best way.”

She watched him as she spoke and in her eyes he seemed to think about what she said. _ ‘So askin’ out of personal interest.’ _

Since Hugo didn’t respond besides a slow nod, Mélie decided to see if he’d be willing to talk to her about it once she talked a bit more. Even if it shouldn’t bother her how other siblings handle their arguments, she had a bad feeling about this one. Especially the usually cheerful Hugo being so quiet about it was what made her worry: “Y’know keeping things in is a horrible way, can tell outta my own experience. It was what made me argue so much, stored all the shit in until it exploded. Walking helps to clear a mind out, yeah. But talking about it is what calms it.”

Hugo looked up at her with visible confusion once she was finished, but before Mélie could ask what was wrong, Hugo exclaimed in a soft voice: “But if you walked without Arthur… then how did you talk to make it better…?”

The older girl couldn't help but to let out a laugh, which she had to silence with slamming her hand in front of her mouth, as a first response; out of all the things one could wonder about, Hugo tripped over the talking while being alone. It only confused the poor little boy more until she could answer: “How? Simple, talked to the environment. Just blabbering everything out. Does get weird though when you don’t get an answer, so I’d accept my offer.”

Hugo giggled even more than he did before as he imagined the older girl yelling at trees, and as he was busy with calming down from his giggling, Mélie decided to climb up on the damaged, yet very strong, remaining of the stone wall which faced the center of the château. Once he was calmed, he of course noticed where the female thief sat, and with an excited gasp he hurried over to her: “Mélie? Can I sit there too? It looks fun!”

The addressed older girl looked at Hugo, then at the stone wall before looking at the little boy again, who now looked at her with puppy eyes. Not being able to say no to that look, she let out a soft sigh as she carefully helped him to climb up: “If something happens to you then your sister will kill me, y’know that?”

As Hugo only shrugged his shoulders and again didn’t really respond to the mentioning of Amicia, the older girl thought again of what could have possibly made the siblings argue today as everything was fine before Lucas and Amicia returned. The moment she thought of their return she realized what ‘argument’ the siblings had and she mentally slammed her hand against her forehead as she thought with an internal growl _ ‘Well Amicia, your plan of not telling him a thing fucking failed.’ _

Mélie knew though that she couldn't lose her composure now in front of the little boy, and she also knew now why she had a bad feeling about this; She remembered Amicia talking about how Hugo had ran away after their mother’s death came up in an argument, so she guessed that she had to be quite careful about what she says to not make him block everything like little children often did whenever they met an obstacle. Or like stubborn people like her did: _ ‘So that’s how Arthur feels with my hot headed ass, oh how great.’ _

She thought about how to word her next sentences as she helped him sit safely next to her, keeping an around him just in case as she let out a sigh: “Look… I know that older siblings can be dick heads sometimes. And that sometimes you just want to scream at them. I can tell, even tho Arthur is only older by a few minutes. But they just want our best. Really. They have shitty ways in our eyes, some ways get taken wrong, but they try their best, ‘cos the safety of their sib is first.”

Hugo looked up at her with wide eyes as she spoke, his face gettéing upset when he thought about what he heard that afternoon: “But… If Amicia wants to do the best… then why does she still tell me that mommy is dead?”

“Probably ‘cos she remembers how you reacted when she told you about her death.” Before Mélie could elaborate on her sentence, Hugo interrupted her with a pout and whine: “But now she knows mommy is alive! And she doesn’t tell me! Or does she look like she wants to find mommy...”

“I can’t look into Amicia’s head. I don’t know what her exact reason is, but I have my guesses. Y’know what I said, older siblings want to protect their younger at all cost, even if it’s a shit way. She just wants to protect you, from a lot of things. Hell, she still can’t fully believe that what she believed, that your mother is dead, was wrong. Nor does she know if it’s safe to find her there in that hell hole, so what use would it be to give anyone, including yourself, hopes? Can understand her, guess I’d do the same… but I know that it seems like shit to you. You just have to trust her.”

The thief wasn’t sure if he understood, or wanted to understand, what she had said about Amicia wanting to protect Hugo from running to her in false hopes, or simply from having false hopes. Even as he nodded and sighed out an “I guess...”, she still wasn’t convinced of that problem being solved in his mind.

‘_Who could blame him tho? Hell… Guess I would’ve been a hellfire itself in his case… Amicia, whatever ya plan, don’t screw it up. Just fucking talk please.’_ Mélie was thinking about the situation of the De Rune siblings and decided for the next day to try making Amicia talk with her brother about it, while she kept an eye on Hugo, who was thinking about the situation as well.

But unlike the older girl, he didn’t want to talk any more about it. He knew that he should at least try to believe Mélie as she had more experience in life and in being a younger sibling.

‘_But Mélie didn’t go through a situation like this’_ was crossing Hugo’s mind, making him believe that maybe the thief wasn’t right about it and that Amicia maybe doesn’t mean it in the way that she guesses it. That was the last thought that crossed his mind about this situation for today, because he quickly shook his head as he thought _ ‘Mommy always said that everything is clearer after I slept over it for the night. So I’ll do that, maybe Mélie is right…’ _

The thief noticed his violent shaking of his head and she raised her eyebrow at him: “You alright there?”

“Mhm!” He nodded at her before he was quiet for a few seconds, thinking about any interesting topic that could replace the current one. Only when he found one, he looked up at her again with a tilted head: “Mélie? Can I ask you something?”

“Hm? Sure,” The thief blinked slightly irritated at the sudden change of topic, but she decided to not question it further and instead waited for Hugo to elaborate on his question.

“You… you said to Amicia that you and Arthur ran away from your father, and that you live like… uh… like this since then. But why didn’t you go to your mommy…? They’re always nice.”

Mélie let out a sad sigh at his question, thinking _ ‘Could’ve guessed that that would come up one day’ _ to herself before she shrugged her shoulders: “Well… ‘cos we don’t know what happened to her. At first we thought that she died at our birth. Wouldn’t be a surprise, y’know? Shit life and twins. But Arthur had a point in saying that we wouldn’t even know how to take a shit on our own if that happened. So our guess is that she raised us until we knew the basic stuff and then saved her ass. Can’t blame her there.”

“Oh…” Hugo looked down when he heard the, in his eyes, sad explanation of why they live on their own.

“Hey, don’t feel down ‘cos of it. Not everything’s always nice, we’re used to that,” The thief shook her head as she carefully pat the small boy’s head, who looked up at her with a small pout: “But still…! It would be nice if you could have met your mommy… or a nice one.”

“Could’ve, but didn’t happen. Maybe next life if that exists, hm?” She simply shrugged her shoulders again and showed him a soft grin, making him cheer up and smile a bit in return: “I hope! You’re nice, and Arthur is too! God has to give you that!”

“Don’t think God agrees with you there-” Mélie innocently looked away as a bigger grin formed on her lips, which got wider at Hugo’s question of ‘Aww why not?’, as she answered with: “Oh y’know-”

She didn’t manage to say the rest of it though, as she interrupted herself at the sight of him quickly shaking his head before he cheerfully exclaimed: “God just has to! You’re nice!”

“I think we have a different understanding of ‘nice’,” The thief let out a soft laugh as she shook her head, “Don’t see anything nice in stealing to survive, or looting corpses-”

“But you know so many cool things! I wanna be as fast, and quiet, as you too!” Hugo wasn’t even close to changing his mind about the female thief, who’s laughing stopped to stare in disbelief at him: “Like me? I think you have a better role model option there, really that’s the most horrible decision ya could make.”

“Hmm… But she can’t pick locks like you!” He smiled brightly at her as he giggled softly and thought about his big sister’s skills, “But she’s so strong with her sling… Can I be that strong too?”

“Mhm, I’m sure you’re gonna be just as strong in 10 years,” Mélie nodded and smiled at him, keeping addition of _ ‘But not as gorgeous’ _ inside her head.

* * *

Time has passed quickly as the two cheerfully talked. Hugo really enjoyed listening to Mélie’s stories of what she and her brother did before they met the De Rune’s. Not that the thief really enjoyed telling those as she thought they were a quite bad thing to tell to someone who seems to admire what she does, but he was his old self again and she couldn't deny that she was relieved about seeing Amicia’s brother happy again. And soon it was time to make their way back to the others and to get at least a bit of sleep.

As Mélie helped the younger De Rune off the wall, she couldn't help but to wonder out loud: “Not that I’m not glad, don’t get me wrong there- but how comes you’re trusting me so much,” As she said this she pointed to the remains of the wall to show that she meant the not falling off it, “Even tho we all know each other since a damn short while?”

Hugo showed her big smile as he giggled happily: “Because Amicia likes you so much! And trusts you a lot!”

Especially the first of his answers gave Mélie a huge and proud grin; a soft blush as well but it was not visible in the light that radiated off the torch she lightened up with ignifer right before she helped Hugo to get down to this area. With that grin and a raised eyebrow she inquired: “Oh? Does she really like me that much?”

“Mhm!” He nodded quickly, his huge smile from before still on his face, and cheerfully exclaimed, “When you two talk so funny with each other then Amicia always has a huge smile in her face after it! And mommy has the same smile when she’s happy about something!”

“When we talk so funny-” The thief tilted her head as she mumbled to herself, but that mumbling still was loud enough to be heard by Hugo as he happily answered with “Yes! Where Amicia always blushes and stutters!”

“Ohhh,” Mélie now knew what he meant, _‘The flirting-’_ and it made her grin and blush more at the same time, yet she still managed to cover the happiness, that was responsible for her blush, up as she chuckled through her grin: “Seems like she likes me then.”

“And you? Do you like Amicia too?” Hugo looked at her with his happy smile as he asked, having to lower his voice during his questions when Mélie signalized him to do so, as they were about to go down the stairs of the original way to this place.

The thief only shrugged her shoulders in a playful manner as she showed the little boy a sheepish grin: “’Course, who couldn't like your sister after all?”

* * *

The two younger siblings reached the entrance to the main room when Mélie carefully put a hand on Hugo’s shoulder. He was confused by that action and so he turned around with a tilted head to look into her worried face as she whispered to him: “Hugo… whatever ya do, be careful. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do-”

She quickly shook her head as she interrupted herself, well knowing into what kind of shit she got herself and Arthur into with her sometimes headless reactions, and so she knew that this would have been the most horrible piece of advice she could have given him. So she corrected herself with a soft chuckle: “Okay no. Don’t listen to that. Please don’t do what I’d do. Just- just don’t do anything stupid, got me?”

Hugo had to giggle quietly at the way she corrected herself and nodded quickly: “I won’t I won’t…!” before the thief let go of his shoulder to let him walk over to his sister and curl up next to her like he does every evening.

Mélie watched that scene with a small smile, thinking about their talk once more. She didn’t feel like she and Hugo had gotten any closer, the little De Rune still was a… special mystery that she rather watched from a bit away. But said special mystery always knew how to cheer the group and everybody in it, including her, up and how to keep his smile despite his horrible condition. And the thief couldn't deny that she felt quite honored by the fact that this little noble seemed to look up at her and her skills, rather than to ignore her or even look down at her for being born into the lowest class; her proud smile showing her happiness about it.

‘_He has that from Amicia, must be a family thing.’_ With one last look at the siblings of the, in the thief’s eyes, admirable family, Mélie silently made her way to her own mat on the other side of the main room’s front. Hoping that if Hugo decided to accept her advice of not doing anything stupid, he’d choose the right definition and therefore the right way of ‘nothing stupid’.

_ ** ~The end~ ** _

**Author's Note:**

> How does the story end?~ In what way will Hugo take Mélie's advice to his heart; will he stay with the group or will he feel inspired by her stealth and think he does what is right? That's up to you, my dear reader, to decide~
> 
> In case anyone's wondering how I got the idea of Mélie being an instigating sibling: Mélie reminds me of my mother :D (no joke, I swear)  
Of course without the looting skills or that kind of family background, but simply from the personality the thief is similar to my mom at that age, according to way too many different stories. And my mom 100%ly was instigating her younger siblings, especially her brother, into doing some shit and pranking. So that's how my sibling view of the lovely Mélie was created.
> 
> Another thing is how I just LOVE what I did with Mélie's choice of priority worry XD She worries that Amicia will kill her in case Hugo gets hurts on the wall, which she totally would ofc. But our thief just straight up forgets that Amicia will kill her for the amount of swear words she teached Hugo in that short amount of time :D
> 
> ___________________________________
> 
> I hope that all of you enjoyed reading this little piece, as it most likely will be the last one in a while. I work on this rather big Melicia fanfic now, but even more important: This year is my graduation year, so I'm going to be all into exams and preparation... so hopefully I can manage to sneak in a small one shot fromt time to time in between these two. And I especially hope that impudent_strumpet doesn't mind this little gift here hehe


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